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St. PADDYS Day

There is something special about getting to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in the place where it all started. I've been looking forward to St. Paddy's Day (also it is very important to know that it is PADDY and not Patty like some people say) since the day I got here. I knew it would be one of the best days to be with friends and get to enjoy Irish culture.

What better way to start off the day than with green pancakes and mimosas at 9:30am. Thanks to my friends who spent three hours on Friday night cooking 77 green pancakes we were able to start the morning off with a bang. Luckily, all of my friends live in the same apartment complex so we were able to spread out the day among two apartments. After breakfast we went over to our other friends apartment to hang out/play games and get ready for the parade. The parade was in downtown city center. We left the apartments at 12:15 and got to city center by 12:30 and it was already packed for the parade that started at 1:00pm. I always wondered if dressing head to toe in green was just an American take on the day but once I got to city center I found out that it's a universal tradition. Even though I am almost 6 feet tall there were so many people I had some trouble seeing the parade. For the most part, it seemed to be very similar to parades at home except there was more of a religious emphasis which I thought was really cool.

Another big part to the day was the Six Nations rugby game against England. Ireland had already won the Six Nations title but if they managed to beat England they would get the Grand Slam. A grand slam is when one team manages to beat all the other teams in the tournament so it was a big deal. We watched the game at a pub that had green beer!!! Side note: I always wondered how they make the beer green, I always thought they had it specially ordered in a keg; but they just put food dye in the glass before the beer. So there you go, the more you know. Ireland locked their grand slam title by beating England 24-15. People went nuts 1) because they just got the grand slam and 2) people in Ireland loooove beat England #history. Honestly, I think people were way more excited about the win than St. Patrick' Day.

After the game it was time to nap and regroup for the night. Best nap ever. That night we went back to our friends apartment to socialize and hangout more before we went out for the night. When we went out at night I've never seen city center more crowded. There were lines to every pub/club/bar in Cork. People were everywhere. Once we managed to make it in to the pub you couldn't move without hitting anyone else or get a drink without waiting 20 minutes. We ended up calling it a night but the day was one of my favorites.

All in all experiencing St. Patrick's Day in Ireland is something I will never forget. Also, if you ever get the chance to experience it, make sure you have good friends to be with because that's really what it's all about.

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